CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The University of North Carolina scored 212.5 points to take the lead after the first day of the 1998 Atlantic Coast Conference men's swimming and diving championship. Coach Frank Comfort's five-time defending-champion Tar Heels hold a 25.5 point advantage over second-place Virginia, which totaled 187 points at the UVa Aquatic and Fitness Center.

Pre-meet favorite Florida State held the lead for most of the day, but fell to third place after its 400-yard medley relay team was disqualified in the day's final event. The Seminoles totaled 185 points, finishing the day only two points behind Virginia. North Carolina State stands in fourth place with 170 points, while Clemson (102), Maryland (100.5), Georgia Tech (62) and Duke (50) round out the scoring.

North Carolina won only one event, that being the 400-yard medley relay team of Ted Brisson, Brad Kline, Tucker Shade and Ed Abele with a time of 3:15.08. The Tar Heels also had three second-place finishers on the day. Mike Chorba placed second in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 4:26.13, while teammate Tom Schmelzer was second in the 200-yard individual medley with his time of 1:48.84. The Tar Heels' team of Brisson, Ted Jennings, Shade, Abele also placed second in both the 200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1:20.59.

Virginia had two swimmers win individual event titles on the first day of action. Austin Ramirez claimed first in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 4:22.13, successfully defending his title in the event. The Cavaliers' Doak Finch was victorious in the 200-yard individual medley, swimming a school-record time of 1:47.97.

Florida State also won two events, in the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle relay. In the 50 free four Seminoles placed in the top eight, led by Brendon Dedekind with a time of 19.52. Dedekind, who automatically qualified for the NCAA Championship with that time, claimed the ACC title in the 50 free for the third consecutive season. Other top finishers for the Seminoles in the event were Julio Santos in second place (19.85), Matt McVittie in fifth place (20.28) and Kevin Flanagan in eighth place (20.68). The Seminoles' 200-free relay team of Santos, McVittie, Flanagan and Dedekind easily won its event with a time of 1:19.00.

The only other event winner on the day was Maryland's Kevin Burke, who won the one-meter springboard diving with a score of 538.20 points.

The ACC Championship continues tomorrow with preliminaries at 11:00 a.m., followed by finals at 7:00 p.m.